So, I Bought a Basket Case...4WD Montero

[normaldave]

Our daily drivers are a full-sized Mitsubishi Montero Limited 4WD, and wife's Montero Sport Limited 2WD. Over the years, doing my own mechanic work on these has given me an appreciation for the engineering and design of these often maligned and misunderstood "underdogs" of the Japanese manufactured automotive world.

My wife's truck is approaching 200K and she's owned it since about 2004. I'm supposed to keep it going forever because she doesn't want anything else. The Montero Sport SUV is based on the Triton truck (former Mighty Max pickup). I got on board after learning the short list of "must do" preventive maintenance items that most owners, and some mechanics don't do that gives the brand a not so hot reliability image. I bought an '02 full sized Montero 4WD, built from a monocoque body design and have developed a sick and twisted addiction to them. I drive mine in my work and personal use daily.

I have 215K on mine. I have no concerns about miles or reliability, but what if there were an accident, or some other mechanical catastrophe? The last Montero imported in the US was 2006, they are getting pretty rare here, even though they were made through 2018 and highly sought after worldwide, they never caught on here.

I started looking for a "spare". Saw an ad for "Parts" a 2006 Montero Limited, 138K miles, not running in Alabama. $ 1,000. Checked it out, owner said, "my motor is in the back hatch area". Hmmm... It was their family and farm vehicle, but it threw the timing belt on the highway, and two different repair shops and several months later, still no go. They gave up, towed it back home, and then here I come, "Mr. Know It All". Yep, everything but the block itself was stacked in the back hatch of the car. Well, not quite everything. I quickly surmised that it suffered from a severe, but curable case of "Knuckle-headed-mechanic-itis".

We trailered it home, and after almost a year of seemingly doing most everything BUT working on the project, it cranked for the first time today! I did all the work myself except the machine shop head rebuild. Felt good to have it finally see life. The used car market is hot right now, but these things have gone crazy. The Land Cruiser, Lexus, Range Rover folks must have found out about the Montero, because they sell in less than a day, and for much more than I would like to pay.

It's been since Thanksgiving when I pushed it into the garage. Lots of interruptions, and other things to do I guess. Here it is today back from the first test drive. Heads built, new valves, timing belt kit water pump, spark plugs, new lifters, plug wires, etc. I had to unravel the mess that the prior two knuckleheaded mechanics left, and still didn't get it running, before I came along.


Now time to give it a big bath inside, pretty dirty.

So if anybody needs to know anything about these kind of trucks, I guess I'm your man. If you can't work on them yourself, might be best to take a pass. I don't think there are that many mechanics that speak fluent Mitsubishi.

If you want a capable and somewhat luxurious 4WD, with a fully independent suspension, Separate rear heat and A/C, 4.30 gears, locking center differential, low range gearbox, hybrid limited slip rear differential, along with 5-speed automatic select shift automatic, and 4Hi/4Lo along with AWD, and select 2WD, then take a look at one of these.

Here's the daily drivers:

See...told you it was kinda' sick and twisted. You all might want to keep a safe distance around me. (That guy definitely ain't "normal" by any definition of the word).

 

[Railroader]

Naw, Dave, ya ain't normal...

But I am diggin' your dedication to a truck you love.

Hat Tip to ya. ?

 

[JustUs4All]

I wish I had the skills to mechanic.

 

[jdgator]

Gorgeous vehicles inside and out! I’m just a shade tree mechanic. But I do enough to know that what you’ve listed is serious, serious work. What a labor of love.

 

[normaldave]

I wish I had the skills to mechanic.

Thanks, some days I wonder if it wouldn't be better if I didn't know how to do the work. I'm self taught, school of hard knocks, absorbed knowledge from experienced friends but the single most memorable factor...when I was 15, someone told me to order a factory service manual for the Volkswagen our family had. It had been to the dealer getting generators and voltage regulators replaced multiple times only to fail. My dad knew nothing about cars. One Friday afternoon, I laid the wiring diagram out and proceeded to disconnect and trace all the wires at the fuse box. I discovered the dealer had been just rigging, taping and tapping wires, a real rats nest. I traced and fixed every wire, re-installed each fuse to the factory spec. Re-ran every wire to the appropriate fuse location. By Sunday afternoon, everything worked except one turn signal. I had inadvertently pushed the connector under the fuse panel, and out of view. I hooked it up and presto, to my and everyone else's amazement, the car ran, and everything worked. Good thing, because my dad had to drive it to work early Monday morning. After that, we never had another electrical failure with that car the rest of the time we owned it.

With that victory in hand, I never looked back, and always kept a wary eye on the dealer techs. I haven't had one of my cars car to the dealer in 30+ years or so, and only to private shops for A/C charge/discharge or tires and alignment.

Gorgeous vehicles inside and out! I’m just a shade tree mechanic. But I do enough to know that what you’ve listed is serious, serious work. What a labor of love.

Thank you sir. This one was a test for sure, inherited a real mystery, but with persistence and prayer, it finally rolled out under it's own power. 24 busted valves, crushed lifters, etc. Timing belt failure, interference engine.




I feel like it was worth it. Here's an ad for an identical truck to mine, just "a few" less miles. $ 20K.

 

[JustUs4All]

Congratulations.

 

[sghoghunter]

My daughter had a 2001 montero sport and between me and my brother we done a little tinkering on it. At times I swore that thing had ghost in it. It had an oil leak and my brother took and worked on it changing a bunch of gaskets and it quit leaking but then it went back to leaking a little bit

 

[normaldave]

My daughter had a 2001 montero sport and between me and my brother we done a little tinkering on it. At times I swore that thing had ghost in it. It had an oil leak and my brother took and worked on it changing a bunch of gaskets and it quit leaking but then it went back to leaking a little bit

Yes...there is a short list of maintenance items in this area that if ignored, lead to a waterfall of parts failures. I'm a Mopar guy from way back so there was a learning curve for me too.

Valve cover gaskets: get Mitsubishi only. Straighten inside channel, no sealer, barely snug them down. Everybody overtightens them, and it makes the leak worse.

Rear cam O-rings: Sport has one on each bank. Factory ones got brittle from heat and would seep oil, which often was blamed on the valve cover gaskets. OEM upgraded $ 2.00 part solves the problem permanently, half an hour each side.

Front cam seals. These need to be inspected/done during the timing belt job They are again inexpensive. Ideally they don't need to be changed but the failure of the above maintenance leads to oil starvation in the top of the heads, and then failure if these seals. The passenger side front cam leak drips right onto the Sport alternator. I lost two before I learned about the front cam seals. Again, $ 8.00 part and an hour or so for both, but you have access when doing the timing belt.

Oil loss in the top end over time leads to lifters damaged, and that constant ticking at idle. There is a procedure you can do from the drivers seat that will sometimes clear air pockets or trash with good oil circulation.

Same for valve seals, which leads to blue smoke at idle and everybody thinking the engine is ruined. New valve seals about $15, but 24 valves worth of labor=ouch.

Sounds like a lot, more labor intensive, not so bad on parts, but I have rescued nearly a half dozen of these now, and they have become reliable and trouble free.

 

[Concrete Pete]

Always liked the look of the Monteros (especially when people add brush guards and all).

Had the chance to drive an Outlander recently. Wasn’t a bad little SUV. 1000Xs better than the garbage Chevy Equinox I rented before the Outlander.

 

[normaldave]

Always liked the look of the Monteros (especially when people add brush guards and all).

Had the chance to drive an Outlander recently. Wasn’t a bad little SUV. 1000Xs better than the garbage Chevy Equinox I rented before the Outlander.

Thanks, the Outlander AWD is the little engine that could of crossover SUV's. Car-based, FWD, but surprisingly capable.

My '06 had a big Westin brush guard on the front, I gave it to my brother for his wife's 2005 Montero Limited. (Yes, I corrupted them too). I loaned them my 2002 Montero for a road trip to Ohio a couple of years back and they became believers. They bought their '05 Montero used with just over 200K miles, it was quite the deal. He's gotten most of the maintenance caught up and she drives it everyday.